Past Perfect Verb form

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neer.king: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 38; Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2012 8:48 pm

by neer.king » Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:05 am

Unfortunately for the commuters who lost their lives when the bridge collapsed, the engineer was not
honest at the preliminary public safety commission hearing, when he was questioned about the structure's weight-bearing abilities.
â—� was not honest
â—� was not
â—� was honest
â—� had not been honest
â—� had not been being honest

shouldn't past form be used in this sentence ?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:05 am

Kasia@EconomistGMAT: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 646; Joined: Mon May 21, 2012 7:08 amFollowed by: 143 members; Thanked: 322 times

by Kasia@EconomistGMAT » Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:28 am

The bridge collapsed later, the preliminary hearing took place earlier. Therefore, the correct answer should be D. However, there is a mistake in the non-underlined part "he WAS questioned." The questioning is simultaneous with the engineer's dishonesty and this part of the sentence should say " he HAD BEEN questioned."

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CSASHISHPANDAY: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 84; Joined: Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:50 pmFollowed by: 3 members; Location: New Delhi; Thanked: 35 times; GMAT Score:800

by CSASHISHPANDAY » Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:45 am

Hi,
I think While asking "shouldn't past form be used in this sentence" you simply want to know whether simple past can be used here or not?

To choose between Past vs Past perfect ask question to yourself:
whether event occurred in past?
whether it is connected with later event?

If answer is yes then use past perfect.

Now come to your question:

"he was not honest" before he was questioned i.e. accident occurred due to the engineer's earlier dishonesty. (He did something in the past that occurred before something else in the past, thus past perfect should be used.)
No doubt answer is D

It would be better if sentence be "although it would be even better if sentence was "when he had been questioned"

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neer.king: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 38; Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2012 8:48 pm

by neer.king » Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:05 am

ohkk thnx guys.. i didn't get the context in the first go. Got it now.

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